Event Summary
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is replacing its Single Assessment Framework with four sector-specific frameworks covering adult social care, mental health care, primary care and community services, and hospitals.
Following pilots and testing in 2026, Westminster Insight’s New CQC Assessment Frameworks Digital Conference will provide a timely update on the new frameworks, and how providers should prepare for the new approach.
With final frameworks and provider guidance expected at the end of 2026, you will hear the latest lessons from pilot inspections and updates on implementation.
Understand how the new key lines of enquiry, rating characteristics and evidence requirements differ from the Single Assessment Framework, and what remains the same, including the five key questions – safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led – and the four rating levels of outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.
With a shift from scoring to professional judgement, how inspectors will gather and weigh evidence, and how ratings will be reached and justified at key question level?
The conference will also provide practical strategies to help you prepare for inspection, including using mock inspections and diagnostic audits to identify gaps. How do you equip your frontline teams to be ready for inspection and strengthen board-level oversight?
You will learn how to respond to serious findings, turn incidents and complaints into targeted improvement plans, and measure the impact of corrective action.
Key Points
- Explore the latest CQC reforms, final frameworks, and provider guidance
- Hear how the revised sector-specific frameworks will affect hospitals, mental health, primary care, community services and adult social care
- Understand how inspectors weigh evidence, apply holistic professional judgement and determine ratings
- Gain practical strategies to prepare leaders and frontline teams for the new assessments
- Discover how to evidence people’s experiences, improve feedback processes, and ensure every voice is heard
- Learn how to demonstrate safe, joined-up care across organisational boundaries
- Turn inspection findings, incidents and complaints into measurable, lasting quality improvement
